The Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) remains aggressive and creative to ensure the immediate implementation of the national broadband program that will guarantee the country’s inter-connectivity.
DICT-CAR regional director Reynaldo Sy said that the agency already completed and submitted to Congress the budgetary requirements of the government’s national broadband program which runs into billions of dollars for the provision of funds to realize the country’s improved inter-connectivity.
“We continue to be creative in finding ways on how to fast-track the implementation of the said program so that we will be at par with other Southeast Asian nations in terms of inter-connectivity. The realization of the national broadband program will definitely contribute in spurring our country’s economic growth in the future,” Director Sy stressed.
He claimed that the agency also offered the national broadband program to the different telecommunication companies to assist in whatever way and serve as the government’s partner for its realization and guarantee the country’s inter-connectivity.
Further, the said program had also been offered to interested private partners through the public-private partnership scheme that will also help fast-track its realization beneficial in significantly improving information and community technology.
The DICT-Car official explained that the government is also exploring the possibility of securing overseas development assistance from international funding institutions just to ensure that a significant program of the program will be realized in a reasonable period of time.
According to him, the national broadband program requires huge funding support from various sectors because the government cannot afford to provide the needed resources that will guarantee its immediate completion that is why the agency is doing its best in finding the right combination on how to effectively and efficiently prosecute the said initiative.
He admitted that one of the challenges besetting the implementation of the national broadband program is the presence of numerous geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas that require various forms of technology to provide connectivity that will allow the people in the said communities to have access to information and easier way of communicating outside their places.
Director Sy stipulated that the government is bullish in ensuring the implementation of the said program which is geared towards elevating the status of the country in terms of inter-connectivity to a higher level and for the whole country to be inter-connected that will propel economic growth in the future.
He emphasized that one of the strategies being adopted by the agency to pave the way for better inter-connectivity is for the common use of telecommunication towers by the three players aside from establishing common fiber optics so that it will be easier to advance in the prosecution of the program and providing improved state of telecommunications in the different areas. By Dexter A. See
